Greene County High School is preparing to host the Iowa High School Music Association State Solo and Small Ensemble contest tomorrow.

Vocal Director David Heupel tells Raccoon Valley Radio this will be the first time they will host this event 2019. He says they were supposed to be the host in 2020, but two weeks before the contest, the covid pandemic forced schools to close and they haven’t applied to host it since, due to the uncertainty of room availability with the new facility.

“(Iowa High School Music Association Executive Director) Mr. (Alan) Griener at the music association office gave us a call last spring  I think and said, ‘I’m still looking for a host site would you do it?’ And of course we’ve hosted state jazz band (and) state jazz choir here with the auditorium that works great, so we’ve enjoyed hosting that. So this will be the first time that we do small group in this building. We’ll see how it goes.”   

Heupel says there are 12 vocal soloists and one Madrigal choir ensemble that will perform tomorrow. Band Director Wes Anderson has eight soloists and 17 ensembles for Saturday. Heupel notes that while there is no official admission charge for the public to watch the performances, there is a suggested donation of $3 for adults and $1 for students. The other schools that are coming Saturday include Perry, Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, Webster City, Saydel and Gilbert.